Married to amazement

When Death Comes

When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measles-pox;
when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,
I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,
and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth
tending as all music does, toward silence,
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it is over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

-Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver is a favorite poet of mine. She writes about nature. She writes about life. She notices details and I believe lives what she writes.

In "The Summer Day", she asks,
"Tell me, what do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life"?

I'm not quite sure why I'm thinking about this today. Maybe because I'm in a foreign country spending some time by myself, I don't speak the language very well, and I don't know my way around this town. All I know is that I want to make a difference. I don't want to just pass through. I don't want to be afraid. What would it be like to be married to amazement? I think it starts by looking, really looking and paying attention to the small things. I think we hurry through our days and don't pay attention to the things that cause one to be amazed. Today, take 5 mintues to look at something you usually hurry past.

This is what I was paying attention to today. I was watching the branches swaying in the breeze and the bright green of the new growth. Like arms reaching for the sun.

Feel free to leave a comment, it's nice to know you're out there. Thanks for reading.